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Does low self‐control during childhood explain the association between delinquency and accidents in early adolescence?
Author(s) -
TREMBLAY RICHARD E.,
BOULERICE BERNARD,
ARSE-NEAULT LOUISE,
TUNGER NISCALE MARIANNE
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1995.5.4.439
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , association (psychology) , psychology , developmental psychology , longitudinal study , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , poison control , test (biology) , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , medicine , environmental health , pathology , psychotherapist , paleontology , biology
Data from a longitudinal study of a large sample of boys followed from kindergarten to high school were used to test two alternative hypotheses concerning the association between delinquency and accidents. The first hypothesis proposes that delinquency and accidents are correlated because they are both the product of a failure to learn self‐control during childhood. The alternative hypothesis proposes that self‐control during childhood will explain part of the association between delinquency and accidents during adolescence, but delinquency will still increase the risk for accidents. Linear structural equation modelling was used to test the alternative hypotheses with data collected from teachers, mothers and self‐reports, at 6, 10, 14 and 15 years of age. Results supported the hypothesis that childhood self‐control levels only explain part of the association between driving accidents and delinquency during early adolescence, and delinquency increases the risk of accidents. Results also indicated that the association between delinquency and accidents increased with age, suggesting that the risk of accidents during adolescence increases as involvement in delinquency increases. Details of a case of delinquent behaviour which led to a fatal car accident are given. It was also suggested that longitudinal studies of the association between self‐control and antisocial behaviour should focus on their early development during the preschool years.